Dark Worlds
by ShadowJ51
Summary: Part six of a series. Sequel to Mainframe. Three dark worlds... the last bastions of evil... the last place to destroy. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Try Another

Try Another

Shadow- "Guess what? It's a new part to the story! Didn't I tell you I'd get this up fast?"

Renamon- "Yes... and nobody doubted you..."

Shadow- "I'm sure someone did... and to that someone I say: Ha! Told ya!

Oh, yeah... new part... (ahem)

Welcome to the start of part six! To new readers, welcome! And to old readers, welcome back! If you haven't read part one, two, three, four, and five of my story (The Coming Sunset, Nightfall, Through the Darkness, Road to Dawn, and Mainframe), please go to my profile page, and read those first. Or else this part won't make any sense to you whatsoever. 

To those who have read those parts: Thank you for reading this far! The story contiues exactly where it left off, so long time readers will feel right at home. Enjoy this chapter!"

Renamon- "Do you have to say the same exact thing every single time?"

Shadow- "Yes. Yes I do."

Renamon- "Fine... Shadow does not own digimon..."

Shadow- "And please, review! It's a brand new part, so give it some reviews, make it look important... I don't even care if you don't like the story, just review after reading!"

* * *

**real world**

Kari sat in her room, looking out her window. She watched the traffic go by, hurrying off to places unknown. That's _what I feel like we're doing..._ she thought to herself. _We going as fast as we can towards something we know nothing about..._

She sighed, and looked upwards, towards the sky. The stars were shining brightly, their points of light twinkling distantly in the sky. She smiled. _Everywhere I look, I see us... our group, my friends... the few points of light left... Huanglongmon is gone... Justin, Zoe, and Kouji are gone... and there's just so much darkness... every time we defeat one, another appears..._

She focused on one star in particular, as it was shining brighter than the others. She stared at it for a moment, before realizing that it was not in fact a star, but an airplane, its light blinking on and off intermittently. She looked away from the window. _What is wrong with me? Everywhere I look, I see what we're doing... no, look, stop it! Try and get some sleep!_

She flug herself on her bed, her head against her pillow, completely motionless. But she couldn't stop her mind from racing. _What if we're not doing the right thing? Even when that digimon had its gun pointed at my head, it didn't feel evil..._ She sighed again, and whispered "Damn it..."

**real world, tamers**

Rika couldn't sleep either. She paced her room, occasionally looking up at where she knew Renamon was hiding in the rafters. She finally shook her head, and said "Renamon?"

The fox digimon faded in from the shadows. "Yes, Rika?"

Rika sighed. "What the hell is going on? I mean..." Renamon waited as Rika tried to find the words. "Everyone's dying... some of our friends have died... I... I don't know..."

Renamon nodded. "But they came back."

"Yes, but that's just it!" Rika said. "They came back, but what next? What happens if someone else gets hurt, or killed? Someone we care about?"

"They're still here, Rika. Worrying about what might happen serves no purpose."

"But... but I don't..." Rika lowered her head, and sighed. "Actually caring about them sucks..."

Renamon smiled slightly, as Rika fell into bed. Rika sighed again, and closed her eyes. She whispered so quietly that not even Renamon heard her "I hope Justin's all right..."

**unknown world**

"You must see reason. You seem like a reasonable person."

"Damn it, you just don't get it, do you?!"

"What is it that I do not get?"

"What you did! What you're asking me to do! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I explained to you why it is necessary, and-"

"How the hell do I know that you're not just making this shit up?!"

"I-"

"Look, forget it. I'm not hurting them."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Talk to them. Make them see reason."

"See reason? When I have a plan, do they listen to me? When I have an idea, do they listen to me? No! They just act like I don't matter, and when I get upset, they just act like I'm the one with a problem! And if they won't listen to me when I'm making a rational suggestion, why the hell would they listen if I give them your half-assed logic?"

"So you will not do so?"

"What the hell did I just say, you idiot?!"

"Fine then. There are others. I will simply try another."


	2. Light Fuse, Run Away

Light Fuse, Run Away

Shadow- "Hello again... and thanks to digi-writer1392 for reviewing... now, if only the other readers would do the same..."

Renamon- "Like that's ever going to happen... you've been asking people to review for the past I don't know how many chapters... and has it helped?"

Shadow- "...well... I can't just give up..."

Renamon- "Hey, it's your breath you're wasting... and speaking of wasted breath, Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Nope... but please, please review anyways."

* * *

**real world**

Kari's eyelids fluttered slightly, then opened. The newly risen sunlight shone on her face. She rolled out of be, stretched, and went over to the door. She paused, her hand inches from the handle. She listened, and heard voices outside, in the living room. She creaked open the door slightly.

She saw Tai and Izzy talking. She listened for a moment, and suddenly remembered what day it was. They were going to the dark world. They were going to destroy everything that they had fought so long against.

She shut the door again, and walked towards her closet to get clothes out. She paused again. _If we're going to finally win... why don't I feel happy?_

**real world**

Takuya, Tommy, JP, and the others came through portal created by their new digivices. Tai nodded. "Okay, we're all here."

There was some muttering. Izzy turned, with some difficulty, and looked at Tai. "You know, maybe having twenty plus kids in your house was a bad idea."

"You think?!" came a muffled voice somewhere below Izzy. Izzy jumped, and moved sideways slightly. Trish got up, and growled at him. Izzy grinned sheepishly.

Matt shook his head. "Let's just get the heck out of here."

"I dunno," Lazar said, pressed up against Candice in the tight quarters. "I kinda like this."

Candice snorted gently. "Pervert..."

"I suppose now's as good a time as any..." Henry said. "Digiport open!"

Henry was sucked through his own portal. The others also yelled "Digiport open!" and followed him.

**dark ocean, tamers**

The digidestined landed smoothly onto the beach of the dark world. Kari shivered at the darkness around her. It was evil, yes, but it was evil that she understood. She found that strangely comferting. She banished that thought, and focused on the landing. For a trip through a portal, it was surprisingly painless. No one had even fallen down.

"Will someone please tell me why we didn't use this earlier?" Tim asked. "It was a pain in the ass before!"

"I guess that counts as a thank you." a voice echoed around them.

The digidestined looked around in shock. "No, down here!" the digidestined looked at the ground. "No," the voice sighed. "Your digivices, you idiots..."

Everyone took out their digivice. A static-filled outline of a familiar golden dragon was on the screen. "Took you long enough..." the bemused dragon said.

"H... Huanglongmon?" Tai said.

The dragons on their screens nodded in unison. "Of course."

"But... didn't you die?" Izzy asked.

"Technically, yes." the dragon said. "However, before my data lost all integrity, I was able to copy the necessary data onto your digivices to allow them to make portal... and, obviously, I also copied some of my own data."

"How much data did you copy?" Hedeki said, concerned. "How much memory do these things have?"

"Never mind..." the dragon said. "Look, this copy won't last long, and I only needed to create it because I ran out of time to tell you in person. I still needed to tell you how to activate the spheres and where to activate them at... you do still have them, don't you?"

As a response, Izzy, Henry, and Koichi took one of the spheres out of their backpacks.

The dragon onscreen nodded. "Good. Now, in order to activate them, one child and his digimon partner will need to place their hand on the surface of the sphere. It will ask to confirm. Both of you must state that you wish to detonate the sphere. That will start a fifteen second countdown which will ignite the sphere, compressing all matter in the universe into singularity, and then deleting that singular point."

"Why not just delete the universe as it is?" Tai asked.

The dragon snorted. "Do you have any idea how long that would take? Do you realize how vast the universe really is?"

"Huanglongmon..." Izzy said. "There's something I've been wondering about... if the dark ocean is destroyed like that, what is there preventing our universes from being affected in the same way?"

Huanglongmon snorted. "Only the natural laws themselves. The only way to pass between universes is to create a portal, like your digivices now do. Your world is perfectly safe."

Trish nodded. "Okay... so what was that other thing you wanted to tell us about?"

"Oh, yes!" the dragon said. "Where to set it off. Through out each of the dark worlds, there are pillars, which spread dark influence. Davis and the others of his group have seen and destroyed them before, haven't you?"

When they nodded, Huanglongmon continued. "Good. Then I won't need to explain what they look like. By exploding them within a few feet of the towers, the spheres will tap into the network created by the towers and compress every single control spire into its own black hole. The gravity from each will cause the rest of each universe to be sucked into that point, until the entire mass of the universe reaches singularity. Once that is accomplished, the remains of the sphere will turn that point into pure data, and delete it! The entire process should take about a week or so, but it cannot be stopped once started, so be careful."

"Prodigious!" Izzy shouted. "Using their own creations to destroy them... it's brilliant!"

The dragon embarrassly shook his head. "If you say so..."

"So... how do we find a control spire?" Henry asked.

"Ah, that's the final thing I added. If you scroll to your tracking menus you- no, not now, I'm still talking to you!- you'll find that next to your digimon and digivice tracker, I've added a control spire tracker to the bottom of the list. Simply press that key, and the map will light up, displaying the nearest ten control spires."

After a pause, the dragon said "Well, that's all I have to tell you. If you want to scroll to the map now, you can. The remains of my data will now delete themselves, so I can be reconstructed in the mainframe. I'll hopefully see you when this is all over!"

The screen dissolved into static. The digidestined took a moment to switch their screens over to CSTS (Control Spire Tracking System) and looked at it for a moment.

"Well..." Tai said. "If this thing is right... there should be a control spire right over that hill there."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" yelled Davis, as he held up his digivice.

Everyone's digimon that could fly digivolved into their ultimate form, and lifted up the humans and remaining digimon, and carried them skyward.

From the air, the digidestined quickly spotted the control spire, and flew towards it. They landed at its foot, and stood milling around for a moment. "That's strange..." Izzy said. "There's nobody guarding it..."

Tai shrugged. "Sacrosamon must not know how these things work yet, then... Izzy, toss me your sphere!"

Izzy pulled his sphere, the red one, out of his backpack and handed it over to Tai. He grinned nervously, then said, "Well, let's see if these things work!"

Metalgreymon de-digivolved to Agumon, and both him and Tai placed their hands on the sphere. A screen lit up, with the numbers "00:15:00"

DO YOU WISH TO DETONATE?

"Yes." said Tai.

After a pause, Agumon said "Yes."

The timer began to run.

At 00:14:55, Tai yelled "Let's go!"

At 00:13:23, everyone took out their digivices.

At 00:11:47, the portals appeared.

At 00:09:35:, everyone jumped through their portals.

At 00:07:93, the portals closed.

At 00:03:36, Sacrosamon appeared, whispered "Damn it."

At 00:02:95, Sacrosamon disappeared.

At 00:00:00, the sphere detonated.


	3. Return of the Wolf

Return of the Wolf

Shadow- "Hello yet again, faithful readers! I say 'faithful', because experience has shown that most people who read to the third chapter continue on to read the whole story. So, congrats! You're doing well!"

Renamon- "Get to the point already..."

Shadow- "Oh... right... well, here's the next chapter... oh, and digi-writer1392? CALM DOMN!"

Renamon- "Good... Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "And please people, read and review!"

* * *

**n. digital world**

The digidestined exited their portals in the digital plane, and watched as the dark landscape of the other world disappeared in their closing portals. Tai looked around, then sighed.

"Good, everyone's here."

Izzy nodded. The ground trembled slightly, then stopped. Trish nervously looked around. "Was he really sure that it won't destroy this world, as well?"

Henry nodded. "You heard what he said. Besides, if that thing was supposed to destroy that entire universe, then I'd be surprised if we felt nothing here."

Tai nodded. "Yeah. Now let's go home. Izzy was right this morning... we'll meet here, in the digital world."

The others nodded, and took out their digivices. A sudden flash of light behind them stopped them.

They turned around, and saw a portal opening up. The digimon got ready to fight.

They paused, however, when Kouji and Lightmon, his partner, fell out of the portal. The portal closed behind them.

Kouji stood up, looked at the others, and asked "What'd I miss?"

Everyone else was stunned. Finally, Takuya asked "W... Where were you? What happened?"

Kouji snorted, and shrugged. "After that flash of light, I woke up in this weird place. Everything was white, and I couldn't tell the difference between the sky and the ground. That idiot digimon, Sacrosamon, tried to convince me to help him. I told him no, and he sent me here."

"He just let you go?" Tai asked.

Kouji nodded. "I know. It's weird, but that's all he did."

Izzy shook his head. "I guess we'll deal with him when we have to..."

Kouji nodded, and looked around. "Hey... where's Zoe?"

Izzy looked at Kouji oddly. "They disappeared when you did. Didn't you see them?"

Kouji shook his head. "No... There was nobody else there with me... I didn't even have Lightmon with me until just now."

Izzy shrugged. "He must be keeping them in separate places."

Kari nodded. "Do you think they'll be all right?"

Tai nodded. "Of course! Now, c'mon, let's all get home." He winked at Kari. "We don't want to miss tofu casserole, do we?"

Kari groaned, and everyone made a portal with their digivices, (except for Kouji, who shared with Takuya,) and left the digital world.

**real world, tamers**

Hypnos was a hive of activity in the weeks after the digital worlds had collided. With the thousands of digimon and the group of humans coming and going, everyone spent long nights making sure everything ran smoothly.

Recently, however, as it became clear that very little was happening, work had slacked off and funds had been cut. The familiar faces of Yamaki and the two female monitors still remained, however.

Yamaki flipped his lighter in agitation.

_clink. clink. clink._ "Any news?"

"No sir."

_clink. clink. clink._

"Sir?"

_clink. clink._ "What?"

"Do you realize how annoying that is?"

_clink. clink. clink._ "Deal with it."

"Yes sir."

_clink. clink. clink._

A monitor beeped. "Sir?"

_clink. clink._ "What?"

"We've detected something... odd."

"What is it?"

"...I'm not sure..."

"Is it another wild one?" a trace of hope inched into Yamaki's voice.

"...no, sir."

_clink. clink. clink._ "Then why are you bothering me?"

"Sir... whatever it is... it's not digital..."

The clinking stopped. "What?"

"Sir... whatever it is, it's hazy right now..."

The clinking resumed.

"But it wasn't there a minute ago!" the woman said with a hint of panic and annoyance in her voice.

_clink. clink. clink._ "I don't care. Tell me when you have something."

"...yes sir..."

_clink. clink. clink._


	4. The Winged Horse

The Winged Horse

Shadow- "Hey everybody... I'm afraid I have bad news..."

Renamon- "You're actually dead, and the thing talking to us is your ghost?"

Shadow- "Um... no... why...?"

Renamon- "What? It's not like I'm planning some hostile takeover, or something."

Shadow- "..."

Renamon- "..."

Shadow- "O... kay... well, what I was going to say was that I'm going on vacation for Thanksgiving, so I won't be able to update for a week or so."

Renamon- "Oh... yeah, that makes sense... Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Well, all I have to say before I leave is: enjoy the chapter, and REVIEW!"

* * *

**n. digital world**

The next day, after a night where nobody got much sleep, the digidestined returned to their meeting place in the digital world. After making sure that everyone was there, Tai nodded.

"Good, everyone's here. Now, let's get going!"

"Hold on a minute," said Henry, "Which dark world are we going to?"

Tai gave him a blank look for a moment, then started. "Oh, yeah..."

Henry sighed. "Look, if we don't know where we're going, half of us will end up in the wrong place..."

Tai blinked. "...I was thinking of destroying our dark world next."

"Why?" Henry asked.

"...well..." Tai said, drawing out the word as long as possible.

Takuya piped up. "I think we should destroy our dark world next. After all, we started with the weakest one, and yours is the strongest. Ours should be destroyed next."

"What makes you sure that yours is weaker?" Matt asked.

Kouji snorted. "If what you said earlier is true, you've had to deal with five or six different evil digimon. We've only had to deal with one."

"Yeah, well..." Tai started.

Kouji cut him off. "Look, just because you couldn't get a decent crest..."

"What's wrong with Courage?" Tai, Davis, Takato, and Takuya said angrily.

Rika answered for Kouji. "Courage is a lack of knowledge. If you're feeling confident about a situation, then you're obviously too stupid to know what's really going on."

"What the hell's your problem?!" Tai shouted. "Look, just because your boyfriend's dead..."

"He's not dead!" Rika shouted. Renamon and Agumon shifted, preparing for battle.

"Umm... guys?" Izzy said. "Aren't we supposed to be fighting the bad guys?"

Tai and Rika continued to glare at each other, but their digimon backed down.

Izzy nodded. "Look, I think I have an easy way to solve this whole thing; let's just go in the order we did when we were trying to save the digital worlds."

Tai grumbled, but everyone else agreed, and everyone took out their digivices. "Digiport open!"

**unknown world**

"Look, I really don't see where the problem is."

"Then get some glasses! What you're saying doesn't make sense!"

"Doesn't it? It explains why Tai and the others have never truly succeeded. It explains why good wins, but evil returns to try again. And it explains, how against all odds, things will always return to a balance in the end."

"W-well..."

"I'm not asking you to hurt anybody. I'm only asking-"

"I heard you the first time!"

"..."

"...sorry..."

"Then why has your answer not changed? You see reason in my statements, and yet..."

"...look, how about you try listening to me for once? If the world was really like that... I can't accept it... how everything is just useless..."

"And yet you still cannot-"

"You've said lots of things to support your claims, but nothing to disprove what we believe!"

"..."

"What?"

"I see. You are too stubborn to be of use... though they might have listened to you..."

"Why wouldn't they have?"

"They would not have listened to your black-haired friend."

"Who? Kouji? Is he-"

"Do not worry. You shall rejoin your friends soon enough..."

**dark ocean, frontier**

The digidestined stepped out of their portals. Kari shivered slightly, but no one noticed. Everyone started to take out their digivices, but there was no need. Directly in front of them stood a control spire.

"Well, that was easy." Tim said.

"Good, now can we hurry this up?" Jen asked. "This place really creeps me out."

The others nodded, and moved forward towards the black spire, when they heard wing-beats in the air. A shining white winged horse flew over them, and landed between them and the control spire. It nodded. "Good, I'm not too late..."

"Who are you?" Jen asked.

"I? I am a servant of Sacrosamon, defender of the heavens. I am here to stop you."

"Oh?" Rika said. "You and what army?"

The horse sighed. "He was afraid of this. You will not speak peaceably. You are single-minded, stubborn, and in this case, doing the wrong thing!"

"Hey!" Davis yelled. "Who's doing the wrong thing?!"

The horse shook its head, and its mane swished back and forth. "Oh well... still, I should be powerful enough to stop you..."

The winged horse cocked its head back, shouted "Pegasus Fire!", and shot a blast of energy directly into the middle of the group of digidestined.


	5. Diversionary Tactics

Diversionary Tactics

Shadow- "Hello everyone... can't talk long, my flight just got in late... and I'm tired..."

Renamon- "We got a new reviewer while you were gone."

Shadow- "Really?"

Renamon- "Yeah... he wanted to know where Guilmon went."

Shadow- (shrugs) "I dunno... ask Takato..."

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Please R&R..." (falls asleep)

Renamon- (sighs) (hits "add chapter")

* * *

**n. digital world**

The winged horse yelled "Pegasus Fire!" and a blast of energy shot into the group of digidestined.

"Digivolve!" Takato yelled, reaching for his digivice.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Gallantmon!"

Takato brought Gallantmon's shield to bear, deflecting the attack upwards.

"C'mon!" Ryo shouted, taking out his digivice. "Let's help him!"

"Yeah!" Tai said.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Blastingreymon!"

"Lunargarurumon!"

"Electrokabuterimon!"

"Avedramon!"

"Lilamon!"

"Ferrizudomon!"

"Burningveemon!"

"Serratankylomon!"

"Ariaquilamon!"

"Megidrarapidmon!"

"Hypedragoonmon!"

"Fevouremon!"

"Katashinobimon!"

"Voltedramon!"

"Sakuyamon!"

"Megagargomon!"

"Hyperandromon!"

"Aquangemon!"

"Justimon!"

"Bladeleomon!"

"Violepaecomon!"

"Radisorcerimon!"

"Serracubamon!"

"Flaredramon!"

"Voltamon!"

"Torrentmon!"

"Gravimon!"

"Tremon!"

"Allosmon!"

The eight others reached for their digivices as well, but Kouji shook his head. "No," he said to the others. "We've got to get the sphere close enough to detonate!"

The others nodded, and scurried out of the line of fire.

Meanwhile, Gallantmon had launched himself directly at the winged horse. The digimon laughed, turned, and kicked Gallantmon hard in the visor with its powerful hooves. "You'll have to do better than that!"

Gallantmon got up, and shook his head to clear it. Blastingreymon yelled "Duck!" and Gallantmon dropped to one knee just as a blast of energy shot over his shoulder.

The impact knocked the digimon back a few steps, until its tail was against the control spire. The digimon gnashed its teeth. "Pegasus Fire!"

Gallantmon looked to his left, then leapt forward, knocking the attack to his right with his lance. "Lightning Jou-"

"Takato, no!" a cry rang out that stopped Gallantmon in his tracks. He turned.

Sakuyamon shook her head. "We can't damage the control spire!"

Gallantmon paused for a moment, giving the Pegasus digimon the time it needed. It ran forward, head butting Gallantmon. Gallantmon collapsed, and de-digivolved. The digimon placed its enormous hoof directly over Takato. "Okay... nobody move..."

The others froze. The digimon smiled. "Now, can we fin-"

"Got it!" someone shouted from behind the digimon. It turned, and saw Kouji, Lightmon and the others standing by a flashing green sphere, right next to the control spire. The digimon shouted with rage, and charged the control spire.

The digidestined at the foot of the control spire opened up their portals, and vanished. Most of the others who had been in battle de-digivolved, opened their portals, and disappeared. Sakuyamon ran forward, de-digivolved, opened a portal, and shoved Takato and Guilmon through before also leaving. The winged horse digimon, who nobody had even bothered to find out what it's name was, was only feet from the control spire when the sphere detonated in a flash of emerald light, washing over both the digimon and the spire.


	6. Well Enough Alone

Well Enough Alone

Shadow- "Jeez... I'm not sure about this..."

Renamon- "About what?"

Shadow- "The next chapter... it's... actually, I have a question for the readers. Out of the new characters that I introduced, who's your favorite, and why?"

Renamon- "...that was random..."

Shadow- "Yeah, well there is a reason why I stopped letting see the next chapters..."

Renamon- "...Shadow does not own digimon..."

Shadow- "Oh, don't sulk... oh, and please R&R. And don't forget the question!"

* * *

**n. digital world**

The digidestined exited their portals in the digital world, and looked around to make sure everyone was alright. Apart from Takato having a slash across his cheek, everyone was fine. "Good," Tai said. "Everyone's okay."

The ground shook violently for a few moments, knocking several people to the ground. As the group gather it self, Takuya asked the obvious question. "What the hell was that?"

Izzy shook his head. "I don't know... but it's identical to what happened after the first dark world we destroyed."

Henry nodded. "Except, of course, it was more powerful this time."

Zoe looked around nervously. "Hey... guys? ...um... maybe..."

Kouji looked around in surprise. "Zoe? When-"

Zoe shrugged. "About the same time you guys came out of those portals. Hey, listen, maybe-"

Tai cut her off. "Look, we need to get going and destroy that last world." When nobody moved, he added "Now!"

Joe looked up from putting a bandage on Takato's cheek. "Shouldn't we wait another day? It's getting kind of late, and my parents-"

Tai shook his head violently. "No! We need to it now!"

"But why?" Lazar asked. "If we waited a day before, why not now?"

"Because of the digimon." Henry said. Tai nodded, but let Henry continue. "If Sacrosamon was able to find that digimon that quickly, who knows what he might be able to accomplish in another twenty-four hours?"

Tai nodded again. "Exactly. We need to strike now, and finish the job. If we take too long, he might find something more powerful to stop us... and someone could get seriously hurt... or worse..."

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Yolie piped up. "Well, what are we waiting for?!" she yelled, taking out her digivice. "Digiport open!"

Yolie leapt through her portal, quickly followed by the others. Zoe lingered for a moment, then followed the others into the world of darkness.

**dark ocean**

Immediately after leaving the portals, the digidestined looked around. Kari started, as she recognized where they were. "Hey... this is where I was taken by those Divermon!"

TK nodded. "Yeah... and there's the remains of the control spire lighthouse..."

The black rubble remained where the lighthouse had stood on the sandy ground. Kouji shook his head. "Well, that's just great..."

"Oh, come on, how bad can it be?" Takato said, taking out his digivice to search for control spires. The screen stayed blank for a moment, then flashed several dots. "...oh..." Takato lamely finished.

"That's not good..." Lazar said.

"Well... might as well get moving..." Meling said, taking out her digivice.

The others followed suit, and soon the digidestined were on their way to the nearest control spire. Kari shivered in the cold, dark air. Nobody noticed.

After a half hour, the digidestined spied the control spire on the horizon. As they flew down towards it, they spotted two small figures standing at the base of the spire.

The digidestined flew in closer, expecting to see two digimon that Sacrosamon had dragged here. Instead, they saw a human and his digimon partner. Rika's heart leapt into her throat.

"Justin? What are you doing?"

Justin sighed tiredly, clearly not enjoying the situation. "Look, you can't do this..."

"Why not?!" Takato angrily shouted.

Justin shook his head. "Look, this whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. Sacrosamon wasn't trying to kill Kari, he was testing us. He brought me and the other two the his world, and tried to explain things. I'm not sure if they believed him though..."

Justin looked expectantly at Kouji and Zoe. Kouji shook his head, his eyes cold. Zoe closed her eyes, and appeared to be deep in thought.

"What the hell did he tell you?!" Takato yelled. "What did he promise you?!"

"He didn't promise me anything!" Justin said, annoyed. "Now, if you'll just-"

Wargrowlmon shot an attack at Justin, who dived out of the way. Tai yelled "Now!"

Megakabuterimon carried Izzy down to the base of the tower. Izzy took the orb out, and his digimon placed an enormous claw onto the violet sphere.

DO YOU W-

"Yes!" Izzy and his digimon shouted, as Justin got up, shook his head, and reached for his digivice.

The orb began flashing, and Izzy yelled "Let's go!"

The digidestined dropped to the ground, opened up their portals, and vanished. Izzy took out his digivice, opened the portal, and waited for Megakabuterimon to de-digivolve. Before he could finish, Justin ran up and tackled Izzy, knocking both of them through the portal. Shadowmon grabbed Tentomon, threw him through the portal, and jumped after him just as the gate closed.

The sphere flashed violet rapidly, casting an eerie light onto the twisted landscape. After a few moments, the sphere detonated, destroying the last of the three dark worlds.


	7. Shield of Blood

Shield of Blood

Shadow- "Okay... I don't want to blab on forever this time, so... I don't own digimon. Oh, and please review after you finish reading..."

* * *

**real world, tamers**

Takato and the other digidestined exited their portals, and turned in time to see Izzy and Justin fly through a portal. Though they did not fall hard, the two boys were hurt by the fall. The portals had dropped them onto a section of interstate that was under construction, and was completely deserted. Distant noises of the city echoed to where they were, but nobody paid them any mind.

Justin got up, and shook his head to clear it. Izzy also started to rise, but Justin kicked him hard, and Izzy was knocked several feet towards the others. Justin growled. "God damn it! You idiots just don't know when to quit do you?!"

Izzy got up, and looked back at Justin. Izzy saw the look on his face, and quickly hurried away from him, followed closely by Tentomon.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" yelled Takato.

Justin started to respond, but stopped himself. He took a deep breath, then said "I... am your friend. I am trying to help you."

Takato snorted. "Some help! Blocking our path and attacking us isn't very friendly!"

"May I remind you that you attacked first?" Justin said, struggling not to yell again. "Besides, there's still time! If we go back to the mainframe there might be-"

Takato cut him off. "Might be what? Some of your pal Sacrosamon's goons, who'll try and kill us?!"

"I... am not his friend... even if he was just testing us when he pointed the gun at Kari... that was still unforgivable..."

"Then why are you listening to him?!"

"Because he actually makes sense!" Justin found himself yelling again. "Because he understands what is going on... how things actually work! He is the oldest digimon, and-"

"Hold on a second..." Izzy said. "Genai told us that he was one of the original programs in the digital world. If Sacrosamon was that old, Genai would have known him."

"Genai?! He was a low-level lackey of the digital gods? He was worth nothing! That's why he survived! The only ancients who survived were either too powerful to be destroyed, or too weak to bother with!"

"... you know, he has a point..." Henry interjected. "That would explain why we haven't found any other ancient digimon besides the gods..."

"Yes," Takato continued, "Or, there weren't many digimon around then!"

"But that's not true either..." Izzy said. "Remember when we saw how the eggs and crests were scattered? There were other digimon then... and Genai worked well with them, so they had to have been there for quite some time..."

Some of the others nodded. Takato looked around. "...okay, then why were you helping the dark worlds?"

"To protect the balance." Justin said. "Sacrosamon said something about Light, Shadow and Darkness... I don't remember it all, but they had to be kept in balance with each other."

"You didn't answer his question." Tai said.

Justin shook his head. "Didn't I? Think about it... if all three have to be in balance, what do you think would happen if one side was thrown out of balance... or even destroyed, like what you did?"

"Chaos, destruction..." Henry said, surprising some of the others. "Balance is essential..."

Takato was at a loss. "But..."

TK turned to Kari. "Kari... you've always been sensitive to darkness... what do you think?"

Kari hesitated, looking around at the others expectant faces. Justin's face was calm, but Takato's had an odd look of happiness in it. Finally, Kari said "the dark worlds... were evil..."

"So it was good that we destroyed them!" Takato interrupted.

Justin shook his head. "I don't think she was done talking... not that it really matters, unfortunately..."

Justin addressed the entire group. "I'm going to try to find a way to fix things. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to."

For a moment, nobody moved. A few people began to step forward. Takato looked around in shock. "What the hell?! You're actually going to try and restore darkness?!"

Justin hesitated, then said "Essentially, yes."

Takato's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what Sacrosamon told you, but he's tricked you. He's trying to use you to get what he wants."

To Takato's surprise, Justin said. "I agree. And what he wants is balance, not death!"

"Damn it, you're working against everything we've done!" Takato yelled. "And if nobody wnats to help me stop you... then I'll do it myself!"

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Gallantmon!"

Several others also Biomerged, but the majority did not, either too confused, or just not believing Takato.

Justin took out his digivice. "If you want to fight that badly..."

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Spectraseraphimon!"

The dark angel and crimson knight stood, only a few meters from each other. Gallantmon had his lance down, ready to attack, and Spectraseraphimon held his staff in a defensive position.

"Well, c'mon!" Takato yelled to the others, and launched himself at Spectraseraphimon.

The angel digimon blocked the thrust, and parried with a sweep from the side with the other end of the staff.

Gallantmon blocked the strike with his shield, and slammed his weapon forward again, but was again stopped.

Frustrated, Gallantmon threw his weight behind his shield, and pushed Spectraseraphimon back towards the edge of the highway. Spectraseraphimon flapped his wings once, and soared upwards, leaving Gallantmon to fall ungainly onto his face.

Spectraseraphimon landed nearby on the road, and waited as Gallantmon got up. "Seriously, Takato," Justin shouted. "We don't need to do this!"

"Yes we do!" Takato yelled, and pointed his now-glowing lance at Spectraseraphimon.

Justin had only enough time to widen his eyes before Takato yelled "Lightning Joust!"

The attack crashed into Spectraseraphimon's chest armor. There was a sickening crack, and the attack broke through the other side, spattering blood onto the pavement and soaring off into the city.

Spectraseraphimon fell to one knee, desperately gasping for breath. Takato angled his shield to face Spectraseraphimon.

"Shield of the J-" his words were cut off by a crack. Gallantmon's shield broke, and both Takato and Justin de-digivolved. Takato looked around in bewilderment. Justin lay on the ground, blood seeping out of his chest and soaking his shirt.

Rika screamed, and hurried over to where Justin lay, closely followed by Renamon and the others. Just as Rika and Renamon reached his side, Shadowmon disappeared in a cloud of data. Renamon watched the cloud dissipate, frozen for a moment, before fading from view in her customary way.

Rika knelt beside Justin, and grabbed his hand. Justin looked up at her, then off to the side as another loud crack sounded. Takato's digivice had cracked along the screen. Rika turned back to Justin.

"Justin... Justin, are you okay?"

Justin chuckled weakly. "I'm covered in blood. What do you think?"

Rika managed a smile. She looked over at the nearby city, then at Joe. She started to ask, be he shook his head.

Rika turned back to Justin. "Justin... it's going to be all right.."

Justin shook his head. "No, it isn't. I appreciate you lying about it, though..."

He closed his eyes, whispered something quietly, and stopped breathing.

Rika choked back a sob.

Everyone turned to Takato, who was still standing over the pieces of his broken digivice. Slowly, the others took out their digivices, and opened their portals. Rika, after grabbing Justin's deck of digimon cards, picked up Justin's limp body, with help from Kari, and carried it through.

Takato was left alone.

Guilmon looked up at Takato. "Takato-mon, what's wrong with Justin-mon?"

Takato sighed, and started the long walk back towards the city.


	8. Is it my Fault?

Is it my Fault?

Shadow- "Hello again! Yeah, fast update, but I wrote this one really quickly after the last chapter so... here it is!"

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon..."

Shadow- "Please review. It's he-"

Renamon- "Now!"

Shadow- "Huh?" (disappears offscreen)

Renamon- (chuckles) "It has begun..."

* * *

**real world, tamers, one week later**

_clink. clink. clink._

"Mr. Yamaki, sir?"

_clink. clink. clink._ "What?"

"Sir, we're getting transient contacts again."

_clink. clink. clink._ "Plural?"

"Yes, sir. We were receiving the second earlier, but it was weak enough to be a possible echo."

_clink. clink. clink._ "Where is it?"

"I'm not sure, sir. It doesn't stay long enough to get a good lock. It just sort of... wavers in and out."

_clink. clink. clink._ "Can you approximate?"

"Working... done, sir. Contacts are approximately 50 thousand and 65 thousand miles distant."

The clinking stopped. "Miles?!"

"Yes, sir."

"... just how big are these contacts?"

"Large, sir. Off the scale. According to the readings, though... they're larger then the moon."

"..."

"Sir?"

"Go to red alert. See if we can't use Juggernaut or something else to get rid of these things."

"But sir-"

"Are you questioning me?"

"...no sir."

"Good."

_clink. clink. clink._

**real world, tamers**

Rika lay on her futon, staring up at the ceiling. Her tears had long since dried, but she still couldn't move on from that day.

She looked over at her desk, where Justin's deck of digimon cards lay. Next to it was the card that she had pulled from the deck, still covered with his blood.

She sighed, and closed her eyes. "Renamon?"

Her fox digimon faded in from the shadows, and knelt nearby. "Yes, Rika?"

"What do you know about... prophetic dreams?"

Renamon blinked. "... I... they are uncommon... but not unheard of..."

Rika nodded. "Do you remember the dream I had that told me where Takato's data was?"

Her digimon slowly nodded.

"Most of the dream didn't make any sense then... but I think it was telling me that Takato... was going to..."

Renamon nodded. "I understand. Why do you believe this?"

"There were pieces of Gallantmon's shield... and Takato's broken digivice..."

"Both of those things have happened before... perhaps you were just remembering them."

Rika nodded. "I know. And I'd agree with you... except..."

Renamon waited for Rika to continue.

"There was also a really rare card... and it was covered in blood..."

Renamon looked over at Rika's desk. "The same card that is there?"

Rika nodded. "Yeah... but there's something else... I gave him that card for Christmas..."

Renamon's eyes widened slightly. "And you're wondering if it's your fault he died?"

A tear rolled out of Rika's closed eyes. She nodded.

Renamon sighed. "Rika... it's not your fault... I'm sure you know that... after all, prophetic dreams do not need to have everything in them come true... did anything else appear in the dream that hasn't come true?"

Rika nodded. "Sorta..."

"Then it's not your fault. It would have happened anyways."

Rika nodded again, and opened her eyes. She looked over at Renamon. "I just wish I know why Takato did it..."

Renamon closed her eyes, and nodded.

**real world**

The television in Tai's room flickered, and Tai watched the commercials with increasing boredom. His door creaked open, and Kari peeked into the room. Tai looked over. "What's up?" he asked.

"Umm... Tai? Could I ask you something?"

Tai looked over at the TV. It was still on commercials. He grabbed the remote, and pressed the mute button. "Sure."

Kari looked down. "Do you think that there's anything else I could have done to save Justin?"

Tai looked surprised, but recovered. "Wh- what? Why?"

"I mean... the answer I gave... about the dark worlds? I didn't get to finish what I was going to say..."

Tai blinked. "What else were you going to say?"

"I was... I mean, I've had a bad feeling about the whole thing... first Sacrosamon didn't feel evil... and when we destroyed the worlds, I felt... odd... I don't know... I just can't help but thing... I'm partly responsible for..."

Tai smiled softly. "Kari... Takato was really angry. Even if he hadn't cut you off, he still would have killed him."

Kari nodded, and smiled faintly. "Thanks..."

Tai turned back to the TV. "Oh shit! The show's back!"

Tai made a dive for the remote, and missed Kari saying "I'm going for a walk."

Tai hit the un-mute button, and relaxed. He hadn't missed a thing.

**real world, frontier**

Zoe sat off by herself in the park, and watched several nearby children playing. She closed her eyes.

_Should I have done something? When he asked Kouji and I, should we have spoken up? I mean... I didn't want to believe what he said... but that doesn't make it wrong..._

She shook her head._ No! Shut up! It's not my fault! Even if..._ She opened her eyes, and looked at the kids playing again. A shadow crossed over the field. _Stupid cloud..._

**real world, tamers**

"Sir, emergence is eminent!"

"God damn it, get that program working!"

"Sir... Juggernaut will have no effect if the target is-"

"Try it again! We can't let that thing-"

"Spacial disturbance, sir! Two of them!"

The technicians and Yamaki watched as the monitors activated. The stars shone intensely against the inky night. The space began to warp, twist, and bend, distorting the images of the stars into blobs of light. Finally, an object, and then a second object, snapped into existence. Yamaki's eyes widened.

"What the hell?!"

A technician began to respond, but was cut off as a massive earthquake rippled through the building, shattering the screens and raining glass upon the group.

**real world, frontier**

Zoe was knocked from the table as the quake ripped the nearby ground in half, swallowing the three children who Zoe had been watching. Zoe looked up in horror.

_Okay... that... is not a cloud..._

On instinct, she reached for her digivice, and screamed "Digiport open!" praying it wasn't already too late.

**real world, tamers**

The earthquake also rocked Rika's house. Renamon instantly appeared. "Rika, we need to go! Now!"

Rika looked out her window, saw the two impossibly large objects filling the sky, and nodded.

She ran to her desk, grabbing her digivce. Almost as an afterthought, she grabbed the bloody card as well. "Digiport open!"

**real world**

The TV in Tai's room fell from the niche in the wall, and its screen shattered. Tai cursed, and looked out the window as her started to move towards the TV.

He froze at what he saw. _That's... not possible..._

He made a frantic dive for his digivice. As he opened the portal, he hoped Kari was okay.

**real world**

Kari walked slowly through the park, watching a flock of birds fly by. The quake shook her, and scattered the flock she had been watching.

She looked up, and saw two planets fading into view. The continents were a mottled green and brown, and were surrounded by vast oceans. Then Kari recognized the patterns of the land. _Wh-what? Two other earths? How_-

Suddenly she understood. _Justin..._ She reached for her digivice, only to discover that it wasn't there. She had left it in her room.

She looked back, and knew there wasn't time. She stared upwards, as the two other planets breached the atmosphere. She felt lighter, as the gravity from the other planets began to neutralize her planet's.

Just before the sky turned to fire, she thought _I wonder if the others in all three of our worlds will be okay?_

Then flames, pain, and nothingness.


End file.
